A hello from Adelaide, South Australia

Good day all

A quick introduction from Adelaide, South Australia.

It's Autumn/Fall down this side of the world but the weather seems to be hanging together still (well mostly...).

About a top of 18oC (64.4oF) most days with the nights going down to about 4-7oC (39-46oF). Unfortunately it's been raining most weekends but despite that I still try to get out! Thankfully during the week the weather has been lovely, mild days with mostly blue skies and slight cloud cover...

South Australia is the dryest state overall in Australia (there's a lot of desert up north) but (un?)fortunately that doesn't apply to Adelaide city and the hills areas in particular!

I live just in the foothills which surround the city on the Eastern side which provides lovely opportunities to either 'head to the hills' for some climbing and downhill riding practice or alternatively a nice ride to the city (about 16Kms) or the sea (25Kms).

The Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale and other major wine growing areas aren't too far away. Taking the bike on the train up to Gawler and then riding to the Barossa Valley is a great way to spend a day coasting through the gentle hills and vineyards.

I ride a Specialized Sequoia Expert (and so does my partner...) whch is a road bike with more emphasis on comfort than racing performance. It's three months old and loving every minute of it! Only been riding for three months and just completed my first commute to work today. For details on the bike see:

You'll find that there are plenty of Australians that frequent the forums. I haven't seen any from Adelaide that I remember, but I've seen plenty of folks from Perth and Sydney. You're in good company there.

Of course, the majority of the Australians come on during our evenings when we're already in bed. But like the song says "the freaks come out at night"! Some of those folks, like ChrisL, are pretty freaky....

Nah, I love Chris. He's my boyfriend, so we gotta joke around like this. What kind of bike do you ride?

Originally posted by Koffee Brown Well, perhaps you can send me some good wine from one of those vineyards to make up for it? :-P

Might take more than a little while for me to ride to Chicago... That doesn't make much sense but I'm sticking to it! :confused:

I can however offer some free advice

Go find some Turkey Flat Shiraz from the Barossa Valley (particularly 1996, 1998 and 2000) in the US make sure you snaffle one or a dozen. It's a wonderful example of South Australian Shiraz and a bargain for its quality. I think 'American Estate Wines' in Summit, NJ distributes them.

Gee Koffee, I don't even post here and I get dragged into it! Maybe I should do a forum search of my own name?

Oh yeah, welcome to the forums Adrian. I enjoyed my (brief) time in Adelaide last November - 165 km into the hills, down into McLaren Vale, back onto the coast and approaching the city from the south via Glenelg. I might get back there one day.

BTW, don't complain about the rain. In 2002 Queensland was by far the dryest state in Australia - we almost ran out of water completely up here! Now it's raining regularly again, I couldn't be happier!